One in the same
by SilverMoonPhantom
Summary: When you have a choice to spare another by sacrificing your own life, or wither away...which to you choose? Elongated life or painless death? Phantom made his choice.


Life is a valuable thing

Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings

Watch it count down to the end of the day

Time ticks life away

It's so unreal

* * *

Phantom opened his glowing eyes, looking around.

'How did I get here'

The ethereal green light and floating doors of the ghost zone surrounded him, strange purple stones under his body.

He was laying down on one of the strange rocky islands, silvery white hair dusted with purple.

'Why am I here?'

His eyes flitted to a nearby door, having seen it open slightly. Glowing red eyes stared back at him, oddly fearful. Danny tilted his head in curiosity, wondering what was going on.

He looked down at himself. Black and jumpsuit, white belt…gloves…boots..insignia, tail.

TAIL!

He nearly cricked his neck turning around again, getting to his knees. Twisting about, he grabbed at the strange appendige, only to have it fade through his fingers.

That was odd.

He glanced at himself again, gently touching his boots. They felt oddly numb….

He watched as a small tendril snaked out from the white material, holding to him for a moment before being tugged away, dissipating.

He was fading.

Emerald eyes widened in shock, a small yelp escaping his lips.

He automatically tried to flit back to human form, summoning those strange rings of light. They appeared, but were oddly greenish, and crackled as if made of static. Halfway up his body, they vanished as well, deserting him in his time of near-panic.

Danny drew a fearful breath, standing up and leaping up into the greenish sky.

Another weird thing… he seemed lighter than usual, as if an unnecessary weight had been removed.

Shaking his head, he sped toward where he knew his parent's ghost portal to be located, all the while glancing down at his lower limbs.

They continued to detach from him, ignoring his mental pleas for them to stop.

He gaze turned back to the swirling circle of the Fenton Portal, white hair pulled back by the speed he was traveling at.

His pace slowed as he entered, that strange tingling feeling that always accompanied the portal shooting through him.

He entered the lab.

But something was deathly wrong.

What was with all the police tape?

And what the heck was catsup doing on the walls?

Deciding that his father was doing something only he could understand, danny turned invisible, floating up the stairs.

At least now he wasn't able to see whatever was happening to his legs.

* * *

I'm a nightmare

A disaster

That's what they always said

I'm a lost cause

Not a hero

But I can make it on my own

Its me against the world

* * *

Phantom entered his living room, stopping abruptly, and almost loosing his power of flight.

His mother and father were on their knees in front of the couch, sobbing their hearts out. His mom looked quite disheveled.

Someone was coming down the stairs.

Jazz descended with a miserable aura, eyes puffy from crying.

Another sob escaped her throat as she saw the figure on the couch.

His glowing eyes darted back to the couch, widening in alarm.

Familiar blue jeans were ripped, blood staining them from the inside. Blank eyes stared unblinkingly at the ceiling, misted over, not reacting to the strands of black hair touching their surfaces.

His own face.

His own body…dead….

Not possible!

He was right here!

He was still alive!

Phantom turned visible, mouth hanging slightly open.

"Not possible"

His voice cracked, fading away at the end.

His legs were weaving back and forth in the familiar ghostly tail that he often had when flying, though strands of gray still pulled away, dissipating.

He tried turning human again, though the rings didn't even appear.

Nothing happened.

Phantom stepped forward, staring fearfully at the body, denial still crashing around his skull.

Jack turned around, having felt the strange chill emanating off phantom's body.

"GHOST!"

His voice made the spiritual teen wince, his ears having been accustomed to the mournful silence.

Maddie jerked up, whipping a gun out of nowhere.

Her eyes blazed with fury that he had never seen before.

"Why did you kill him!"

Her voice was raspy with inner pain and sorrow, tears still leaking from her eyes.

"How could you kill our boy?"

She did not wait for an answer, firing twice at his floating form.

He took the blows, looking down to where she had shot him.

They smoked lightly, before those parts starting to dissolve like his legs…erm…tail was.

Blinking silently, phantom looked toward danny, apprehension and confusion written on his face.

Pain shot through him, but was ignored.

His body was numb, mind focusing on the prone body in front of him.

"Its not possible"

He murmured this, unaware that his attacker had switched to a bigger gun.

A short yell of surprise was shaken from him as he was slammed to the side with an energy blast.

Jack held the gun angrily, pointing it at the fallen boy.

His face was twisted in grief and rage, the want of revenge in his heart.

"I knew you were evil, but not bloodthirsty, _phantom_"

The last word was spat out by his mother, her ecto-pistol still drawn.

* * *

I guess its better that I cant keep myself together

Because all of this stress gave me something to ride on

The pain gave me something I could set my sights on

The trash talking and the people it was to

And the people who started it, just like you.

* * *

He sank through the floor, still trying to grasp the fact that he was dead.

But he couldn't be dead!

He was still here, he still saw and thought and could touch things!

Phantom drifted out toward the street, still not paying attention to the world around him.

His eyes were blank, mind awhirl with half comprehension.

Was he full ghost now?

Why was he falling apart?

Not even the roar of familiar engines could awaken him from the self-induced trance.

A Powerful blast of pink light landed between his shoulder blades, forcing him forward a few feet.

The movement let him struggle to full consciousness for a moment to stare groggily at Valerie's enraged figure, gun still smoking.

"Murderer!"

Her voice stung him more than the word, the pure loathing aimed at him. She used to just be angry, and hate was just a word she used.

But this was beyond hate.

She detested him beyond all limitations, since in her mind, he was the one who killed one of her few friends.

And the only guy she fully crushed on.

But wasn't he that person?

No! Fenton was! Not phantom.

But we are the same people…

Wrong again. We switch between forms, combining our personalities.

I become more empathetic, more caring towards others.

While Fenton grows more confident with his abilities, braver.

Did he care anymore?

Phantom summoned a ball of energy in his palm, drawing his hand back as if to throw it at her.

Valerie flinched, speeding into the sky, fully expecting him to follow.

But he did not.

He let the energy die in his hand, path turned around back toward FentonWorks.

No, he did not care.

He did not want to be careful, to make sure she was not harmed.

Were they really one person?

Valerie dipped down again, aiming her gun, but hesitating. Phantom phased through the Fenton's front doors.

Back to the scene of the crime!

Or the ghost zones, to hide like the coward he was

The red hunter sped down to their front door, letting her jet sled fall back into her boots

She charged up her gun, throwing open the door.

He hovered over Danny Fenton's chest, more and more of him falling away into oblivion.

Glowing green eyes stared into those dead blue ones.

No one dared shoot at the specter, for fear of hitting his or her loved one.

He tenderly reached out, the back of his hand trailing over his cheek.

Not lovingly, just…curious.

And scared.

Maddie nodded briefly at the red hunter, accepting the girl to join their hunt at phantom as soon as he abandoned the lifeless body or her only son.

* * *

Tried to give you warning But everyone ignored me

Told you everything loud and clear

But nobody's listening

Talk to you so clearly but you don't want to hear me

Told you everything loud and clear

But nobody's listening

* * *

"I cant be dead"

Phantom murmured this to himself, earning several confused stares.

He didn't care.

Heck, he didn't even grasp the fact that he was being listened in on.

"I am still here… We can't be dead."

His eyes blinked once, green shuttering closed before opening once more.

"And I still sense a spirit inside you. You can't be _fully_ dead"

Phantom drifted closer to the boy, tilting his head to the side.

He was thinking.

About the accident, fusing him with ectoplasm, and how his body felt so hollow whenever the two were separated.

Perhaps his body needed the ectoplasm now?

It needed the spirit for some reason or another.

Just like he needed a body.

"I'm fading, Danny. We need each other. Like light and shadows.

One cannot exist without the other."

He paused, looking down. His left arm was beginning to dissipate into those delicate tendrils, white from his glove, and black from his arm.

"Wake up, Danny"

If he still had legs, Phantom would be sitting on the boy's chest.

Instead, dark mist trailed over the bloodstained shirt, pooling on the floor beside the couch.

"I made my decision, Danny. I know you wouldn't like it, being so fond of our battle cry. Still, I think we both tire of that silly phrase." A small smile flitted over his pale features as he recited his next words.

"Going ghost? Honestly, it sounds like something a kindergartener would say."

He leaned back, amusement crossing his eyes.

"Come to think of it, the first time you said it was in kindergarten. After your father showed you what a ghost would look like. You thought it would be cool to have ghost powers"

In a softer voice, he added

"Got your wish, huh."

Phantom sighed, never taking his gaze from the boy's face.

"You life is more important than a few extra minutes of my afterlife. I think everyone here agrees with that. Cept you, maybe"

A soft green glow appeared around his right hand, placed over the largest wound, near the boy's heart.

He leaned closer, cool breath stirring the black strands of hair from the boy's eyes.

"The wind calls, my friend, but not for you.  
It is not your time.  
You know what to do with my powers.  
After all, they were yours once."

The green energy brightened, sinking into the boy's chest while his parents and friend looked on in horrified fascination.

What on earth was the ghost boy talking about!

What was he doing to the already lifeless boy!

Phantom closed his eyes, exhaling. A small wisp of blue, sparkling faintly, traveled from the ghost boy's lips, entering Danny's

He slowly lost his silvery aura, more and more of his being tugged away by a nonexistent breeze.

The blue eyes closed of their own accord, flesh regaining its healthy tint, while phantom's grew paler.

He removed his hand, drifting toward the door.

Spectators did not blast him as they had planned to, far too preoccupied by the slowly rising and falling chest of Danny Fenton.

Maddie rushed forward, tears gathering in her eyes once more.

Her voice was a whisper, fearful that this was only a mirage.

"Danny? Can you hear me?"

His eyes snapped open, glowing fiercely.

They were not the vibrant green of phantom, but rather, the same shade as his irises were.

A sharp gasp was taken by the boy, eyes flashing into a bright, almost white light.

White crept along his black hair, turning it the same silvery white shade as phantom possessed. The tips remained black, his skin slightly paler than normal, almost glowing.

He turned toward his mother, eyes fading back to their glowing blue.

"Mom?"

His voice was nearly the same has phantom's, having gained that faint echo.

He looked over her shoulder, eyes widening.

"Phantom!"

He tried to get up, only to fall back down when pain reminded him of a broken rib.

The specter was nearly transparent, green eyes glowing dully, but the warm smile on his face making up for that.

"How… Why….."

Danny stammered for the right words to say, as phantom grew fainter and fainter.

However, the mystic voice came through as clear as ever as he softly sang his last words.

"Listen to the wind, as it flows through the trees

Whispering voices from spirits been freed

Listen to the mighty wolf, its mournful, mystic cry

That echoes far across the land where wide-winged eagles fly

Hear the raindrop's steady beat or the oceans mighty roar

The heartbeat that reminds me, Of what I was before."

Phantom closed his green eyes, fading out entirely.

But not really.

After all...

Phantom and Fenton were one in the same.


End file.
